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Mysterio (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
:NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Mysterio from the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Mysterio. Quentin Beck, also known as Mysterio, is the main antagonist of the 2019 Marvel film Spider-Man: Far From Home. He is a former Stark Industries illusions specialist who wants to become the world's biggest superhero in place of the late Tony Stark, feigning attacks from inter-dimensional beings called the Elementals to do so. A spiteful and emotionally unstable man, he ends up becoming the first real personal threat to Peter as his actions ruined the boy's life. He was portrayed by , who also played Louis Bloom in Nightcrawler, Dr. Johnny Wilcox in Okja, and Anthony Claire in Enemy. Biography Meeting Spider-Man Beck first appeared when "Nick Fury" and "Maria Hill" encountered Sandman, which he later destroys using his powers. Once Peter Parker and his friends get attacked by Hydro-Man in Venice, Beck saves Peter from its wrath. The two fight together and Beck destroys the Elemental, appearing as a hero to Italy. Later that night, Nick Fury brings Spider-Man to his hideout, where Spider-Man meets Beck. Beck tells Spider-Man that he came from an Earth of a different dimension that was destroyed by the Elementals, and that they’re on the original Earth. He reveals that there are four of them and their elements: Earth, Water, Fire and Air. Fury suggested that Spider-Man team up with Mysterio to fight the last Elemental Molten Man, but Spider-Man refuses as he is too busy hanging with his classmates on their field trip. Eventually, Spider-Man decides to leave his class' trip and help Mysterio fight Molten Man at the Prague Carnival. The two battle the Elemental for a long time, attacking it with their webs, lasers, and mists, along with surrounding rocks and water. However, they are unsuccessful in stopping the Elemental, as it absorbed enough metal to make itself unstoppable. Mysterio summons all his power and punches the giant in its chest, making it explode and dissipate forever. True Colors After the defeat of Molten Man, Spider-Man and Mysterio head over to a bar, where Spider-Man declares Mysterio worthy for a style Avenger. He then hands over his glasses (containing an intelligence system called E.D.I.T.H. built by Stark), saying that Mysterio should be worthy of being a great superhero just like Stark. However, after Spider-Man leaves, the bar reveals to be an illusion, and Mysterio happily cheered for his team (composed of former Stark Industries employees, mostly William Ginter Riva, Victoria Snow, Guterman, Janice Lincoln and Doug). It turns out that Beck himself was a former Stark Industries employee who created a projection prototype that Stark would later rename as B.A.R.F., and that Beck felt jealous and furious because of this event. Beck also commented that Stark fired him for his unstable behavior and that he actually plans to usurp Stark as the world's greatest hero since the latter sacrificed himself to destroy Thanos and the Black Order. It also turns out that the Elementals are projection drones (built by Giva) as part of Mysterio's true plot to cement himself as a hero to the world and that he tricked Spider-Man into handing over E.D.I.T.H. to further facilitate his plans. As Peter prepares to reveal his feelings for MJ, the two happen upon a piece of detritus and end up activating it, proving that Mysterio didn't notice that he accidentally bumped into one of his Drones and it lost a projector, which reveals that the Elementals are cybernetic beings and not magical monsters. They then realize that Beck is a fraud who was using them to make himself look like a hero to the public. Around the same time, Mysterio realized the missing projector was orchestral in a rehearsal to his next battle, planning an Avengers-level threat. Knowing that his plan will be compromised, Mysterio later uses E.D.I.T.H. to find out that Spider-Man and MJ knew his true colors. He also prompts Giva that once he had to kill Spider-Man, Giva will get the blame. In Berlin, Mysterio shoots 'Nick Fury' with one of his drones, then Spider-Man then encounters Mysterio, who fights against and torments him by making him go through separate illusions, such as Mysterio in full armor dropping MJ from the top of the Eiffel Tower, a dozen of mirrored Spider-Men attacking, a zombie Iron Man, a spider whose eyes form a marching army of Mysterios, and also trapping Spider-Man inside his helmet as a snow globe version of New York City including the Avengers Tower. He gets shot by Fury, which asks Peter who did he tell about his identity. Peter tells him that he only told Ned and MJ. Fury turns out to be a disguised Beck, who leads Peter in front of a speeding train. Final Battle and Death Beck and his team unleash his largest illusion yet, Elemental Fusion in London, which is supposed to kill Michelle and the rest of Spider-Man's classmates. Then Spider-Man comes to the rescue and jumps into the Elemental Fusion's mouth and uses the Peter-Tingle to destroy the Drones inside of the Elemental. Mysterio with anger orders the Drones to attack Spider-Man. After Spider-Man defeats the Drones, he confronts Mysterio to give him the E.D.I.T.H. glasses. Mysterio creates an illusion where Peter fights the remaining androids, using his Spider-Sense again. With Beck being shot by a drone, he attempts to give Peter the glasses but he turns out to be an illusion, as his real self attempts to shoot Spider-Man, but is stopped and shot by an android through misfire. As Spider-Man watches as Mysterio succumbs to his wounds, he asked E.D.I.T.H. to confirm there were no active holograms in use within their vicinity, to ensure whether or not Beck was tricking him with another illusion. E.D.I.T.H. confirmed there are none, ensuring Spider-Man that Mysterio is truly dead. Exposing Spider-Man However, it turns out that Mysterio, knowing that his plan could fail and that he would die, had his crew edit the footage of him and Peter fighting the Elementals to frame Peter as the culprit behind the attacks and his death while revealing his true identity in revenge for foiling his plans. The footage is then given to and displayed by J. Jonah Jameson, exposing Peter's secret identity to the entire world and branding him as a menace to the world, much to Peter's distraught. Personality During his days as an employee at Stark Industries, Quentin Beck had always shown a glorious desire for using his skills of technology to work with Tony Stark. He designed and invented the B.A.R.F. (Binary Augmented Retro-Framing) prototype, but after Stark noticed his callous and unstable nature, Beck was fired, leaving him embittered. Beck later witnessed his former employer die in the Battle of Earth (in Avengers: Endgame), seizing the advantage to use his skills to create drones that project the Elementals and an advanced suit of armor with a helmet to shield his identity. He decided to use the Elementals to cause massive destruction across the continent of Europe and defeat them himself to be seen as a great hero in the eyes of the wide public. He did all of this despite everything Tony did to save the Earth. A first of many signs of Beck being nothing more than a petty psychopath. This plan would succeed, with people such as Flash Thompson giving him praise. Brad Davis states that Beck is similar to Thor and Iron Man together, implying how powerful he truly is without knowing the issue would require the attention of Spider-Man, 'Nick Fury' and 'Maria Hill'. Beck manipulated them by claiming that he is from another Earth, as well as the Elementals, presenting himself as an expert on them and that they are entities from his dimension, all as a move to advance his plan. While being portrayed as a superhero, he had a selfless and caring nature, appearing to risk his life to protect innocents and allies. Beck would also become somewhat of a father figure to Spider-Man showing sympathy for his desires for a normal life and advising Peter to think about what he wants, rather than following other people's expectations. However, beneath his superhero guise lies an egotistical, dark, ruthless, petty, destructive and manipulative psychopath who would stop at nothing to get what he wants. He does not hesitate to threaten the lives of his crew when their missteps exposed the truth about Mysterio to Peter Parker whom Beck was supposedly fond of. Beck also cares less about the casualties caused by his performances than the attention he would receive for them, expressing giddy excitement at staging an "Avengers-level threat", nonchalantly watching Spider-Man get hit by a bullet train, and plotting to kill MJ, Ned Leeds and Betty Brant for knowing his true intentions. Despite his depravity and willingness to threaten his crew, he did appear to show some genuine support and appreciation with his team, as seen when he individually complimented each member for the work they did and their contributions to the overall plan, although this could simply be interpreted as him acting as he cares. Additionally, when he scolded his crew for their mistakes, he angrily stated that Peter Parker's blood would be on their hands, possibly demonstrating some small semblance of regret and anger for having to kill Peter, further supported by the fact that he told Peter for what it was worth, he was sorry. However, this did not stop him from sadistically taunting and attempting to murder the teenager later on. Even if he did truly care about Peter, he discarded any sentiment he did have by framing him for murder and revealing his identity. Even though he is arrogant, ruthless, and callous in the face of death, he is very methodical and cautious and does not overlook the smallest of mistakes, allowing him to continue his plans longer. An example of this is when one of the cameras from the drones was taken off during the fake battle; instead of brushing it off as Riva did, Mysterio immediately saw this as a major threat to him and took quick actions to find the missing projector and take care of anyone who discovered it. Another example was when the drones were breaking formation during the Elemental Fusion attack on London, Mysterio observed it, saw it was wrong, and found out it was Peter instead of ignoring it and allowing the hero to do more damage. Indeed, his only real mistake was underestimating Peter's superhuman powers as he thought that merely getting hit by a train would kill him. Beck accentuated his psychopathy in the illusions he conjured during his first fight with Peter; one such illusion featured him throwing MJ from the Eiffel Tower, manipulating Peter's feelings for her and fears for her safety. He created dark, terrifying and foggy illusions that terrified Peter, trapped him inside an illusion of a snow globe of New York with the Avengers Tower and causing an illusion of Mysterio's giant arm to fall on him. He even blamed Peter for Tony's death with the purpose of hurting him. He grew much more desperate and bloodthirsty in his second confrontation with Spider-Man, unleashing all of his destructiveness to ensure his plan's success; but his lack of emotional stability brought him down, as he turned against E.D.I.T.H.'s advice, only to be riddled with his own drones' gunfire. In spite of this, Beck was partially successful in his goals, as he balanced his still-heroic image to expose Spider-Man's true identity and frame him for the destruction he never caused. Powers and Abilities Quentin Beck does not possess any special abilities, instead he uses a combination of highly advanced hologram technology with stolen Stark Industries drones to give the illusion that he has superpowers. Whenever "Mysterio" is seen battling an Elemental, it is a hologram remotely controlled by the real Beck while the drones produce the collateral damage that Mysterio's "attacks" should cause. Powers *'Hologram Projection': Using a special equipment and motion capture suit, Beck can project a "Mysterio" hologram that participates in the fake battles against the "Elementals". Whenever Mysterio is required to physically interact with someone, Beck can overlay the hologram with himself while wearing a costume to give the impression that he was there the whole time. The physical "Mysterio" costume that Beck wears does not have the "fishbowl" helmet that the hologram Mysterio features, as the costume itself is nothing but a prop. *'Smoke Generation:' The Mysterio hologram can produce a large amount of green smoke, which gives the illusion of Mysterio having superpowers while also making it easier for the real Beck to replace the hologram when necessary. *'Hallucination Induction:' Beck can use his hologram projecting devices to induce hallucinations into a target, where reality appears to be distorted while the victim sees horrific visions that confuse them. Abilities *'Genius Level Intellect': Quentin Beck was an extremely intelligent genius, holding intelligence on the level that could even be compared to that of Tony Stark, having been a principal developer of Stark Industries technology, with him not only creating the B.A.R.F technology, which, despite Beck's instability, Stark was impressed with enough to keep to use but later on successfully creating technology so advanced that he was able to fool all, even superhumans, along with also masterminding his entire plan that came very close to succeeding and in a way did as he became a martyr by exposing Spider-Man to the public and blaming him for his death. **'Master Scientist and Engineer': Quentin was an exceptional scientist and engineer, particularly specializing in the field of holographic technologies, having been one of Stark's chief technology makers before he was fired, making the revolutionary B.A.R.F with many innovative potentials, which Stark deemed advanced enough to keep to use for therapeutic purposes to great effect, and later on developing illusionary drones capable of projecting such advanced city-wide illusions as to fool even extraterrestrial beings. **'Master Tactician': Beck's adaptability allows him to adjust the spin of the story on the fly. This is most evident when Beck made Parker believe Fury saved him, only to effortlessly coerce information about who else could know of Beck's deception. Even as Spider-Man revealed his illusions, Beck turned the story of his reported death into martyrdom by having William Ginter Riva edit the London footage to make it seem as though Parker commanded the drone attack and killed Beck, just to turn Spider-Man into a public enemy. Quotes }} Trivia *Despite being the main antagonist of the second film of the Spider-Man film series within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Mysterio is far more evil and much more dangerous than the Vulture, his predecessor. This is because the Vulture turned to a life of crime to support his family and had redeemable traits whereas Mysterio became a criminal for pure selfishness and greed. And while the Vulture proved to be honorable by not revealing Spidey's identity to Mac Gargan in gratitude for saving him, Mysterio didn't redeem himself and made it look like the Elemental attack had all been Spider-Man's fault and posthumously succeeded in exposing Spidey's secret identity to the whole world. **Incidentally, Tony Stark is indirectly responsible for their start to villainy. In Toomes' case, he lost his job when Tony and the U.S. government shut down his business and became a black market arms dealer to feed his family. Beck was fired by Tony, the latter aware of him being unstable and orchestrated the Elementals' attacks just to gain good publicity. *Matt Damon was initially offered the role of Mysterio, but would ultimately turn it down. ** Before the release of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Damon appeared in Thor: Ragnarok as an actor portraying Loki in an Asgardian play. *Although it's apparent that Mysterio died at the end of the movie, some fans speculate that he might still be alive. When asked about Mysterio's fate, director Jon Watts commented that he doesn't rule out Mysterio's possible survival but that Mysterio "seemed pretty dead for him". **It is also worth noting, however, that during Spider-Man's final battle with Mysterio a drone is seen shooting down Beck, however the Beck that was standing there was yet another illusion, the real Mysterio was never seen truly being shot. **It's also been theorized that Mysterio could come back as a different person as his crew is shown taking some of his equipment with them in the movie. **According to the script of the third MCU Spider-Man film that was leaked, Mysterio in fact survived the blast and the hidden main antagonist. However, due to being a leak, it is possible that Marvel Studios will change some elements in the leaked script so people can still enjoy the movie. *Mysterio is the first Spider-Man villain in film thus far to succeed at exposing Spider-Man's identity (as most antagonists in previous films, while they discovered it, either died with the secret or honorably refused to expose his identity). *Mysterio is one of the seven villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to succeed in their plans, framing Spider-Man as his murderer and exposing his true identity. The others are Erik Killmonger, Loki, Helmut Zemo, Surtur, Ghost and Thanos. However, Mysterio proved to be far more evil than the six, previous villains. *This is easily one of the evilest incarnations of Mysterio, along with his Shattered Dimensions incarnation. *It was rumored that Gyllenhaal was meant to replace Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man in Spider-Man 2 when Sony fired him after the latter refused to take the role due to a back pain. However, Maguire managed to be healed and was hired again to play the role. *Matthew Smith, Andrew Scott, and Colin Farrell were all considered for the role of Mysterio. 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